Ashley Cole admits to laughing at Arsenal’s misery

Former Arsenal and Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole has insisted that he has no regrets about leaving the Gunners and has admitted to laughing at their lack of success since his departure on an ITV show.

Ashley Cole was an integral part of Arsene Wenger’s “The Invincibles” team and went on to win a lot of accolades before his controversial move to Chelsea in 2006. The former England international was found guilty of making contact with Chelsea over a possible move, without informing Arsenal. He was even fined by the Premier League for a tapping-up meeting, which also featured his agent Jonathan Barnett, Jose Mourinho, and the then Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, at a hotel in January 2005.

Eventually, he joined Arsenal’s London rivals Chelsea in a much talked-about transfer in the summer of 2006, and the 36-year-old has since then been a subject of a lot of abuses from the Arsenal fans. However, Cole, who went on to win the Champions League and the Premier League with Chelsea during his eight-year tenure with the Blues, has insisted that he has no regrets about leaving Arsenal.

Speaking on an ITV show, host Holly Willoughby asked Cole, who currently plays in the MLS for LA Galaxy, whether he regrets leaving Arsenal, to which the left-back replied, “Regret leaving Arsenal? No. I had a great time there.

“I missed the old players that were there but I moved on and won every trophy I could. I wouldn’t look back and say I regretted it, no.”

Since Ashley Cole’s departure, Arsenal are yet to win the Premier League title and have won just two FA Cups in the last decade. Cole went on to admit that he has laughed at Arsenal’s lack of success since he left them and pointed out the lack of respect that was shown towards him by the club.

When asked if he has laughed at Arsenal’s misery, Cole said, “If I’m honest, yeah – I still think to this day.

“I laugh to myself. I had a lot of history there and I think the way I left was maybe a bit dodgy but the lack of respect they showed me as well.”

When the host went on to ask if he blames anyone in particular for his departure from Arsenal, the Englishman took some of the blame on his shoulder and accepted that he had done a few things the wrong way. However, he went on to add that a lot of parties should also share the blame alongside him but stopped short of naming someone.

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